Essential Skills Courses at City Lit

We offer courses in ESOL, English, maths and digital skills. You can improve your speaking, listening, reading and writing and your computing and digital skills. We run courses from beginner to advanced – for those who can write only a few words to those who are going to university, for those who are new to computing to those ready for ECDL level 3.

You need to have an initial assessment before joining this course. You can come in person. See www.citylit.ac.uk/esol for dates or you can do an on-line assessment.

Please note: All our essential skills courses are FREE if you are in work and earn less than £19,890 a year. When you come for assessment or enrolment, bring a pay slip dated within 3 months of the course start date, or a current employment contract that shows your salary. The majority of English and maths courses are free for everyone while other courses also have zero or reduced fees if you are on JSA, ESA (WRAG) or a means-tested benefit. Call 020 7831 7831 for more details.

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Are you quite confident about your everyday English? Can you go shopping, talk about simple subjects, and write a letter or email? But do you make quite a lot mistakes? Is it difficult to speak, read or write about more complicated topics? This pre-intermediate course will help you practise your speaking, listening, reading and writing so you can understand people better, talk about most daily topics, read a simple news story and write a long email or letter. In February, there will be a speaking and listening exam.

You need to have an initial assessment before joining this course. You can come in person. See www.citylit.ac.uk/esol for dates. Or you can do an on-line assessment. CLICK on the START ASSESSMENT button opposite. For best results use Chrome. You need to add an email address and a password when asked. Please contact the department on 020 7492 2511 or skills@citylit.ac.uk for help or more information.

This course is FREE if one of the following applies:

a) You are employed and earn less than £20,572.50 . You need to have lived in the UK or EU for the last 3 years and be a citizen of the UK or a country within the EU. You may also be eligible for this funding in other circumstances. When you come for assessment or enrolment, bring a pay slip dated within 3 months of the course start date, or a current employment contract that shows your gross salary. OR

b) You are either on Jobseekers' Allowance or Employment & Support Allowance (WRAG). Please bring proof of income to your assessment or enrolment. OR

c) You receive other state benefits (including Universal Credit), earn less than £338 a month (individual claims) or £541 a month (household claims) and are doing the course to become employed or move into more sustainable employment.

GCSE Maths is a qualification which show employers and universities that you have a good level of maths as well as effective concentration and study skills. It also demonstrates that you are able to learn and retain abstract concepts. This short course is to make sure you are ready for the full GCSE Maths Foundation programme (AC201) and to ensure you know what to expect from the full qualification, its content and the commitment required for success in terms of time investment, dedication, interest and ability.. You will need to complete and pass an initial assessment before starting this course and except in exceptional circumstances pass this course before be able to start the full GCSE (AC201).

GCSE Maths is a qualification which show employers and universities that you have a good level of maths skills, concentration and study skills. It also shows that you are able to learn and retain abstract concepts. This short course is to make sure you are ready for the full GCSE Higher Maths course AC202, you know what to expect from the full course, its content and the commitment required for success. You will need to do an initial pre-course assessment before being accepted onto this course, and pass this course before joining AC202.

Do you want to become a better and more confident communiciator in both writing and speaking? Do you want to be express yourself better in informal situations such as writing emails to friends, or in more formal situations such as corresponding with your colleagues at work or dealing with the council or your child's school? On this course you will improve your vocabulary, learn more about sentence construction and how to structure your writing in a variety of formats. Additionally, you will discover new spelling strategies and learn how to use punctuation accurately. You will also develop your reading skills by reading texts from a range of everyday sources and become confident to read different types of texts for both work and pleasure.This course is part of a three-term programme.

For many students, moving from entry 3 to level 1 can be difficult. This course will prepare you for Level 1 by helping you become more accurate with your grammar and focusing on your reading and writing. You will still have lots of practice of speaking and listening. When you are ready, you can continue to level 1.

You need to have an initial assessment before joining this course. You can come in person. See www.citylit.ac.uk/esol for dates. Or you can do an on-line assessment. CLICK on the START ASSESSMENT button opposite. For best results use Chrome. You need to add an email address and a password when asked. Please contact the department on 020 7492 2511 or skills@citylit.ac.uk for help or more information.

Do you need to improve your writing, reading and speaking confidence in a supportive and encouraging environment? Come to this class and learn how to read and write full sentences in English about important events and other topics that interest you, as well as complete everyday practical tasks such as completing forms, understanding important letters and making appointments. Become confident in your spelling, vocabulary, using capital letters, full stops and expressing your thoughts and feelings.

Do you want to improve your writing, reading and speaking in a supportive and encouraging environment? Come to this class and learn how to read and write paragraphs and short texts about topics that interest you, important events and everyday practical tasks such as completing forms and important letters. Become much more confident in your spelling, vocabulary, using puncuation and expressing your thoughts and feelings including how to deal with difficult situations.

Are you excited by the English language? Do you want to gain an English language GCSE? This short introduction course will give you a flavour of what successfully completing a GCSE involves and will show if you are ready for the accredited programme in terms of time investment, dedication, interest and ability. You will need to complete and pass an initial assessment before starting this course and except in exceptional circumstances pass this course before being able to start the full GCSE.

For students who can speak or write only a few words in English or maybe none at all. On this beginners' course, you will learn new words and grammar, how to ask and answer questions, how to read and write about yourself, your family, and friends, and how to complete forms and short emails. Please contact the department on 020 7492 2511 or skills@citylit.ac.uk for more information.

This course is FREE if you are employed and earn less than £20,572.50 . You need to have lived in the UK or EU for the last 3 years and be a citizen of the UK or a country within the EU. You may also be eligible for this funding in other circumstances. When you come for assessment or enrolment, bring a pay slip dated within 3 months of the course start date, or a current employment contract that shows your gross salary.

Do you want to become more confident in maths in your daily life? This course will enable you use maths every day to help with common tasks such as shopping, making money calculations, measuring and understanding figures, charts and graphs in newspapers or online. You will work with whole numbers, fractions and understand decimal numbers, You will solve problems involving time, money and measurement. You will be able to state properties of shapes, both 2D and 3D and read and interpret information in tables and charts.

Are you trying to improve your basic reading and writing? Do you need help in reading and writing words, using numbers and filling out forms? This course will help you with writing individual letters, spelling whole words, writing simple sentences, reading whole words, reading simple sentences, understanding notices and signs. You will also become confident in the basic maths you need for everyday life. And you will feel able to speak confidently about matters that interest you.

Designed for students who have completed 'English Pronunciation' stages 1 and 2. Conversation and the reading aloud of a variety of texts will help to pinpoint those pronunciation worries still to be addressed.

Are you a non-native fluent speaker who wants to improve your pronunciation of English? Work on correct formation of vowel and consonant sounds including the English neutral vowel and the distinction between voiced and unvoiced sounds.